


one long season of waiting

by fictorium



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: F/F, Femslash, Pregnancy, Unplanned Pregnancy, mentions of past Karameh
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-19
Updated: 2018-04-19
Packaged: 2019-04-25 05:04:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,449
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14371506
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fictorium/pseuds/fictorium
Summary: for the prompt 'does he know about the baby'





	one long season of waiting

Cat may not fight in the field like Alex, or wield a weapon as readily as Maggie, but when National City is under attack, she always returns to the battle at Kara’s side. Fighting through the media, through their message, Cat covers the hearts and minds side of things so well that Kara doesn’t know how they’ll ever manage it without her.

Giving up Mon-El is easier, a second time. It helps that he lies about his marriage being over, just to bed her, just to get his way one more time. Kara doesn’t have the energy to be disgusted by him all over again, simply gives no argument when Imra suggests their leaving in order to draw the latest foe along with them to a black hole. 

It’s nice that Cat stays, three weeks after the rebuilding of downtown begins and she’s back in her office at CatCo, teaching Lena the ropes properly. Kara might be miserable on one front, but at work she’s never been happier. Her best friend, her mentor, and James all there to meet with and brainstorm with most days. It makes being a reporter fun again, something Kara throws herself into with her old gusto. 

So it’s hardly unusual when Cat invites her to lunch. Kara hopes it isn’t sushi, beacuse she’s been feeling a little more human since the excess of kryptonite in those last attacks. Fish makes her feel something close to nausea at the best of times, only now it feels like she might follow through. 

“This is nice,” Kara says after they order steaks, handing back their menus. “Is it a special occasion, or…?”

“Does he know?” Cat comes straight to her point. Not that she’s inclined to clue Kara in just yet. “The manchild you sent away, did he know and still agree to it?”

“Know he can’t come back?” Kara asks. “Yeah, he did last time too. Maybe he thinks never say never, but everyone seemed pretty sure it’s permanent this time.”

“Not about that.” Cat sips at her too-early martini, a post-DC change that Kara knows better than to comment on. She flutters her fingers toward Kara’s body, as though complaining about her simple gray shift dress. “Does he know about the baby?”

Kara grips the marble table top hard enough to leave finger impressions. “The  _what?”_

_“_ Come on,” Cat says, tutting in disapproval. “Haven’t we learned our lesson about playing dumb around me, Supergirl?”

“I can’t… I…” The blood tests that Alex had been confused by. Kara had deliberately kept her distracted, not wanting to push too hard on that. She has felt different, downright strange at times. But no. It’s impossible. Cat Grant is brlliant, yes, and downright insightful when she chooses to be. That doesn’t mean she can predict a pregnancy before the woman allegedly carrying a child.

“Please. I’m basically a savant with this stuff. Even with aliens, apparently.”

Kara pinches the bridge of her nose. This is not happening. “I think you’re wrong, Ms Grant. Could we just have lunch?”

“If that’s what you prefer.”

They drop the subject, but Kara already knows she’ll be flying straight to the DEO as soon as Cat settles the check.

***

It takes a week after the results are confirmed to seek out Cat. It’s easy to cross paths again these days, but Kara’s gotten very good at avoiding people she doesn’t want to face.

“Was this what it felt like?” She asks, her voice breaking on the question. Cat glances up from her tablet screen, peering over her reading glasses. “With Adam?”

“In what sense?”

“Knowing you should be happy, that it’s nothing short of a miracle… and somehow it’s the worst thing that could have happened?”

“You’re saying I was right?” Cat pulls her glasses off at that. She leans back in her chair, folding her hands in her lap. Her blazer is discarded on the couch, and the gauzy black blouse she’s wearing is practically see-through. There’s a camisole underneath, of course, but it draws Kara’s attention all the same. 

“I guess you’re used to that, especially when it comes to me.”

“How… the alien plus alien combination?”

“Guess so. Rao, you know what I can’t stop thinking?”

“What?”

“How horrified my parents would be. He… he’s from a place they didn’t think very highly of.”

“Seems they were excellent judges of character.”

“No, I learned… yeah, maybe you’re right about that, too. People don’t change. They just fool you into thinking it long enough to get what they want.”

Kara comes the rest of the way into the office, her favorite place in National City after her apartment and the really great bakery on Johnson St. 

“A bit cynical for Supergirl,” Cat says, getting up to come and join Kara on one of the cream-colored sofas. When she reaches for Kara’s hand, it makes her heart skip several beats. “You’re not alone, Kara.”

“I feel it.” 

Alex has been trying, but Kara has sworn her sister to secrecy. It’s been a dark and heavy silence between them for days now. That probably can’t continue, not when Alex’s working theory is that gestation will be much shorter for someone of Kara’s powers. 

“You’ll have your job here, as long as you need it. Whether I’m in charge on the daily or not. Maternity leave is generous here, you nagged me about that often enough your first year.”

“I did.” Kara remembers with a smile, she won the argument by pointing out the extra two weeks Lois had secured for Daily Planet employees on top of their allowance. 

“I’m assuming that is…”

Kara nods her head. She doesn’t feel much like explaining that no one would know how to give her an alternative option that way. Adoption isn’t on the table either, not with so many variables unknown. 

Cat’s still holding her hand, and instead of letting go, she reaches for Kara’s other one, bringing them together over their knees, which are now touching. 

“And if you don’t find it intrusive, well, I have been there before. Twice. I’m almost as much of an expert in unexpected motherhood as I am in quickly-dissolving marriages. I could… help. Guide you, advise you. If your apartment is the hobbit hole I’ve always pictured, you could come and stay with me…”

“Wait, what?” Kara can’t believe what she’s hearing. “Cat Grant, who has better security than Buckingham Palace, is inviting a poor, pregnant alien into her home?”

“Is that so strange?”

“Cat, when I brought you documents at home, you wouldn’t let me out of the elevator. Now I can just live there? What would make you offer that?”

“Don’t make me say it, please. It’s bad enough I’m a foolish old woman without having it on the record.”

Kara squeezes Cat’s hands gently, moderating her strength down to almost nothing. Her breath is caught in her throat at the searing look Cat gives her, another hint at what Kara doesn’t dare believe. 

“Say what?”

“That I care for you, Kara. That the minute I thought you were in trouble, I wanted to give you everything, just to make it better.” Cat pulls away then, looking out at the sky through the balcony windows. “That in another world, or timeline, you wouldn’t be making babies with some deadbeat frat boy, you’d be making a family with me and Carter.”

“Cat-”

“Told you it was foolish. There, does that cheer you up? Having me embarrass myself? I did say I’d give anything.”

Kara answers her by slipping to her knees on the floor, placing herself in front of Cat. Tenderly, she reaches out to cup Cat’s face, drawing her carefully into a kiss with plenty of opportunity to stop it if Kara is misinterpreting. From the way their lips meet, it seems they both understand perfectly. 

“So all I had to do to get you to admit you’re crushing on me, as much as I have been on you, was get knocked up?” Kara asks, rambling into the breathless silence when the kiss ends. 

“Apparently.” Cat’s mouth twists as she tries to hide her smile. She’s never been especially good at that, not around Kara. “This doesn’t tie you to anything. I just-”

Kara kisses her again. They’re not talking themselves out of this. For the first time in weeks, she feels sane again, in control of both her feelings and her fate. Cat has always been her stabilizing influence, but now they both see it should be so much more.

When her stomach does a happy little flip, Kara isn’t sure if it’s happiness or the baby, but she likes to think it could be both. 


End file.
